BRAZILIAN DANCE PERFORMANCE CAPTURED WITH BLACKMAGIC DESIGN

  Pocket Cinema Cameras and Blackmagic Camera   used for acclaimed stage production and documentary.

Fremont, CA, USA - Tuesday, August 12, 2025 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Rio de Janeiro based creative studio Semear Filmes relied on a Blackmagic Design camera and post production workflow for the latest staging of “The Stories We Invent About Ourselves” (“Histórias que Inventamos sobre Nós”). In addition to capturing the celebrated live performance by the Esther Weitzman Dance Company, Semear Filmes produced a documentary providing an intimate, behind the scenes look at one of Brazil’s most respected contemporary dance ensembles.

Recorded at the historic Carlos Gomes Theater in Rio de Janeiro, the performance marked the company’s 26th anniversary and brought together 22 dancers from multiple generations to reflect on memory, identity, and the human body through movement. Specializing in capturing live performances with a cinematic perspective, Semear Filmes used Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film cameras, as well as an iPhone equipped with the Blackmagic Camera app. The performance was produced by Semear Filmes’ Beatriz Oliveira and Angélica Oliveira, along with Sound Technician Jorge Cabide.

“‘The Stories We Invent About Ourselves’ is a deeply personal work about the layers of memory and identity we carry,” said Director and DP Guto Neto, owner of Semear Filmes. “To do justice to that intimacy on camera, I needed tools that were both technically powerful and artistically flexible. Also, as both director and operator, I needed a setup that was lightweight, unobtrusive and easy to maneuver, especially during rehearsals and backstage sequences.

“The Pocket 6K Pro provided a cinema grade image in a body compact enough to move freely, often at eye level with performers, without attracting attention or breaking the atmosphere. It empowered me to work intuitively, adapting quickly to the expressive needs of both the stage and documentary. Its combination of Blackmagic RAW flexibility, DCI resolution, gyro stabilization, built in ND filters and intuitive LUT monitoring made it the perfect tool for capturing a performance where time, body, and memory demanded both technical precision and artistic freedom.”

During the performance, Neto, along with DP João Costa, captured a wide master shot with a Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, while a second Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro were used handheld for medium shots, detailed body movements and expressive close ups. Neto also used the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagic Camera app for observational shooting and behind the scenes footage for the documentary.

“The Blackmagic Camera app was used as a strategic and flexible tool during rehearsals and BTS moments, especially in situations where space was limited or a discreet presence was required. The app allowed me to capture footage with cinematic intent while remaining agile and unobtrusive, a crucial advantage when documenting spontaneous interactions, transitions between rooms, or sensitive moments during the dancers’ creative process,” noted Neto. “The ability to shoot in 10 bit Log with full manual control, using the same principles of exposure and color management as the cinema cameras, ensured that the footage could be integrated smoothly into the main timeline with no aesthetic rupture.”

Post production was completed in DaVinci Resolve Studio, including multicam editing, color grading, sound design, and final delivery, with a DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor and DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel supporting the workflow. Neto underscored how DaVinci Resolve Studio’s AI tools were essential for quickly refining sound and visuals. He used Relight FX in interviews to subtly control background exposure without additional lighting, as well as voice isolation for cleaning up spontaneous recordings captured backstage, where noise and reverb were unavoidable.

“Though the project didn’t call for heavy VFX, Fusion played a role in clean title animations and a few retouching tasks, like removing signage or fixing background inconsistencies,” concluded Neto. “Fairlight, however, was a core part of the process as all dialogue was balanced, equalized, and treated for clarity. I also layered ambient sounds from rehearsals and backstage recordings to create an immersive soundscape and used spatial effects, like reverb and panning, to place the viewer within those spaces. The loudness monitoring and bus routing features were critical for preparing mixes across multiple outputs, from stereo to online platforms.”

PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

Product photos of Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro, Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Blackmagic Camera, DaVinci Resolve Studio, DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor, DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

ABOUT BLACKMAGIC DESIGN

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

